Co-creation of Meaning Through Experiencing: How to Transform an Alienating Situation into a Situation of Belonging?

Humans have a feeling of belonging to their fellow beings when they can say what they mean and are able to act accordingly toward others. When what we say or do does not make sense for others, we feel a diminished sense of belonging. Within this paper such situations are referred to as alienating situations. When a loss of sense of belonging threatens the relationships the challenge is to restore a shared understanding. The following questions become relevant: How does co-creation of meaning work? And how can co-creation of meaning be fostered in alienating situations? Drawing on Eugene Gendlin's theory of experiencing (Gendlin, in 1962, 1997), this article will explore the process of meaning-making in more detail. The Austro-American philosopher and psychotherapist draws attention to the key role of experiencing when we create meaning. Some relevant aspects of his work on "Experiencing and the Creation of Meaning" (Gendlin, E. (1962, 1997). Experiencing and the Creation of Meaning. A Philosophical and Psychological. Approach to the Subjective. Northwestern University Press.) will be presented. He emphasizes the importance of the human capacity to relate to a preverbal, embodied but very precise experiencing of situations, that he calls “felt meaning.” The hypothesis is: if we can learn to intentionally use “felt meaning” in the process of creation of meaning, this can be a resource for creating a sense of belonging with others with whom we bring forth new meaning. This paper will present case studies for situations of alienation, introduce felt meaning and describe a teaching mode based on this approach developed and applied by the author in the context of intercultural competence courses in higher education. It aims at showing how co-creation of meaning through experiencing can make a practical contribution to the concept of transcultural competence.